Big Time Pseudo Psychic
by TotallyLosingIt
Summary: Shawn and Gus' vacation to Los Angeles takes a turn for the famous when the boys of Big Time Rush hire them to catch the robbers that have been terrorizing the Palm Woods. Shenanigans abound!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I know, I should be finishing Father Figures. My compy's broken, so I can't do anything but make new fics- but we like new fics, right? And I like Big Time Rush, so it's even.**

**This is for Halo- SisAngel- my best friend whose birthday happened to be two days ago! Happy birthday PS! **

**Disclaimer: Dude, if I owned BTR, it'd be on USA with Psych, not Nickalodeon. Speaking of which, I don't own Psych, either. SIGH.**

"Good _moooooorning, _Los Angeles!" Shawn exclaimed, throwing his hands out into the air. "Feel that morning breeze brushing through your hair, Gus?"

Gus just gave him a droll stare, not bothering to point out that he was bald and therefore didn't have any hair. "Shawn, get down from there before you fall off."

Shawn scoffed at him but leapt back from the railing anyways. He was too hyped up on life—and caffeine—to be bothered by his best friend's flippant attitude. "Come on, Gus," he needled slightly. "You can't say you aren't glad to be out of little old Santa Barbara."

"Little old Santa Barbara," Gus echoed wistfully. "Where there aren't any crazy paparazzi falling you around or murderers out to get you."

"Live a little!" Shawn threw his arm around Gus' shoulders. "Come on, dude. The girls. The celebrities. The _girls."_

"Aren't you involved with Juliet?"

"Dude, I'm not talking about me." Shawn pulled the sunglasses low on the bridge of his nose so he could peer over the top of them. "Have you noticed that every girl you get involved in is a crazy homicidal—"

"Alicia was _not _homicidal!"

"No, but she was a little buddy-buddy with the ax she brought along for her date," Shawn countered.

Gus slapped down the newspaper he'd been reading in exasperation. "We already explained to you that her father was a lumberjack."

"And that totally gives the girl a reason to hide a hatchet in her purse." Shawn sighed dramatically. "But this is all irreverent to the point. You need a girl—preferably a sane one."

"It's _irrelevant, _Shawn," Gus sighed.

"That's what I've been saying!" Patting his buddy on the shoulder, Shawn jumped up. "Come on, the ferry's almost to the dock. Hurry up so you can take off those patches, they look ridiculous."

Gus lifted his hand to his neck where his trust anti-seasickness patches lay, shooting a glare at Shawn. But his friend paid no attention to his annoyance, knowing full well that Gus secretly liked that he'd wriggled a vacation break out of Chief Vick for the Psych team. After the crazy cases they'd had, it was great to finally get a break from mystery and mayhem. And Gus knew that Shawn was feeling put out after Juliet went back to Florida for a family emergency—especially when she'd asked him _not _to come.

Yeah, he decided. They definitely needed this.

The ferry docked and Shawn eagerly pulled Gus off of the boat back to the Blueberry. "Come on," he complained as Gus took his time getting the keys out. "Dude, don't be the molasses-talking teacher at a lecture in the library. We're going sightseeing!"

"We went sightseeing," Gus pointed out as he carefully pulled out of the parking lot.

"Not that kind." Shawn stared excitedly out of the window. "Oh! That was totally just Angelina Jolie crossing the street back there!"

"Angelina Jolie lives in Paris," Gus scoffed.

Shawn turned to stare at him. "What are you, her stalker?"

"It's common knowledge!" Gus defended himself. "Why does it matter?"

"Because we're _celebrity sightseeing," _Shawn stressed. "This is Hollywood, isn't it? There should be celebrities!"

The words were barely out of his mouth when a boy in a hockey helmet slammed into the hood of the Blueberry.

Shawn let out an unmanly shriek as the kid rolled off the hood and swayed on his feet, looking dazed but relatively intact. He was Latino and looked to be about sixteen or seventeen.

Gus rolled the window down and stuck his head out of the window. "Kid! You should really watch where you're going!"

"No!" the kid yelled—well, _wailed. _"We gotta stop the… the…" He stumbled back a step and almost fell on his rear when three other teenage boys came running into the street, grabbing his arms and steadying him. Gus frowned, recognizing their faces.

Shawn gasped. "Dude! It's Big Time Rush!"

_Uh-uh-ohh-ohhhhhhhh…_


	2. Chapter 2

"I can't believe we lost him," Carlos moaned as he pressed the ice pack against his forehead.

Shawn, Gus, and the boys—Kendall, Logan, James, and Carlos—stood outside of the Blueberry in the parking lot. Gus had pulled an ice pack from the cooler he'd packed in the trunk and handed it to Carlos. The Latino boy looked distressed and ridiculous with the helmet on his head.

"Who did you lose?" Shawn wanted to know.

"The thief!"

Kendall—the tall blonde who seemed to be the leader of the band—sighed and said to Shawn, "We were chasing a thief. Nobody knows who he is but he's robbed three safes so far at the Palm Woods."

Gus looked horrified. "You were chasing a _thief? _Don't you know how dangerous that is?"

"We do now," Logan muttered under his breath.

"Back up," Shawn said, holding up his hands. "How did you know this guy you were chasing was the thief?"

"We were staking out Camille's apartment," Kendall explained.

"Camille is Logan's girlfriend," James added.

"Right, and we were about to give up," Logan continued, "but then we saw the thief coming _out _of her apartment. He didn't use the door, so he must've used the window."

"And I saw him," Carlos said, shrugging, "so I chased him. And I almost had him, too!"

"You got hit by a car," Logan pointed out. "You should really be going to a hospital—what if you have internal bleeding, or a concussion?"

Carlos slapped his helmet twice and then winced as he did it. "Doesn't feel like a concussion," he said, sounding determined. "C'mon, Logan, I want to catch whoever's stealing the stuff!"

"I can help you," Shawn offered.

Gus laughed out loud. "Oh, he's… he's just, ah, kidding… Shawn, we're on vacation!"

"Yeah but _obviously _these guys need our help!" Shawn exclaimed, gesturing to the teens. He grinned at them. "See, back home I'm a famous psychic detective."

Carlos' eyes widened. "You're _psychic?"_

"No way," Logan scoffed. "There's no such thing as psychics."

Shawn frowned at him. "Oh yeah? Then how do I know that you dream of being a doctor and have a love-hate, on-off relationship with this girlfriend of yours?"

Logan crossed his arms and scowled. "You could've just looked that up."

"Never," Shawn declared. "I am so not that cheap."

Gus snorted. "Yeah, you are." Catching the looks from Logan, Kendall, James and Carlos, he said quickly, "But he is psychic, and he can help."

"I can dig up some of my old cases in the newspapers if you want," Shawn offered.

"No need," Carlos said excitedly. "You're hired!" He dug into his pockets and pulled out a toothbrush, thirty-seven cents in change, a long piece of string frayed at the ends, and three buttons. Shoving them all in Shawn's hands he said breathlessly, "Will this work?"

Shawn stared at his hands. "Um…"

"You don't need to pay us," Gus said, rescuing him. "Don't worry about it."

"Okay then," Kendall said, but he was smiling slightly. "Come on, we'll show you to the Palm Woods."

"Kendall," Logan pointed out, "we don't have a car."

The six looked at each other and then at the tiny Blueberry.

"Shotgun!"

…

"So this is the Palm Woods," Kendall said grandly as he walked through the lobby of the complex.

Shawn grabbed Gus' arm and pointed excitedly. "Look Gus! It's that ginger kid who's in all those commercials!"

Tyler—the redhead kid in question—ran up to Shawn with wide eyes. "Hi, you sound like a fan, could you hide me from my mom?"

Shawn grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him behind him, watching as an older, female version of Tyler appeared, looking frazzled.

"Have you seen my baby?" she wailed at Big Time Rush. "We're shooting a sock commercial in fifteen minutes!"

"He went that way," they said in unison, pointing off to one side. The woman bolted off that way and Tyler came out from behind Shawn.

"Thanks," he said, shuddering. "I think I've done, like, eight sock commercials."

"No problem," Shawn said brightly. "Man, I love this place!"

"The first person to get robbed was Jo," Kendall said, pointing out a blonde who looked forlorn as she sat on a chair by the pool. "My girlfriend. Along with over two thousand dollars in cash that they keep for emergencies, the robber also got away with the diamond necklace her grandmother gave her."

Shawn noticed how Kendall's fists clenched as he gave them the details and made a mental note to assess how close the two were. "Okay, then we should talk to her first, then?"

Kendall started to protest but Shawn was already making a beeline for Jo. The blonde looked up at him as he skidded to a stop in front of her.

"Hi, Jo, right?" Shawn gave her a brilliant smile. "My name is Shawn Spencer, psychic detective extraordinaire. I've been hired by your boyfriend to help out on this robbery case."

"Um…" Jo looked at Kendall.

Kendall shrugged helplessly. "He and his friend hit Carlos with their car and Carlos hired them."

Jo nodded, like things like that happened every day. "There's not much to tell," she admitted to Shawn—and Gus, as he came up with the rest of Big Time Rush trailing behind. "But I can show you to my apartment, if you'd like?"

"That would be great," Shawn said brightly. He turned to Gus. "What say you? Would you like to take a peek around this lovely lady's apartment?"

Gus pulled a face. "I thought I told you I was leaving the detecting to you. I should be checking out the pharmaceuticals around LA."

Logan's eyes lit up as he stepped forward. "You're in pharmaceuticals?" he asked Gus. "That's awesome! I want to be a doctor someday."

"Really?" Gus eagerly turned to him and the two immediately became engrossed in medicine topics.

A tiny _ding _interrupted whatever Shawn was going to say. James lifted his watch and grinned. "Look at that! It's tanning time." He pulled off his shirt and pants, leaving him in nothing but bathing trunks as he planted himself on the lounging chair at the edge of the pool.

Shawn shook his head. "So, to Jo's apartment then?"

Jo led Kendall, Shawn, and Carlos up to her apartment. Opening the door she said, "My parents are out getting insurance… or something. Take as long as you need." She turned to Kendall and said, "I'll be down by the pool if you need me."

"Ohhh no," Kendall said, grabbing her arm gently and steering her back towards the elevator. "You and I are going to have a nice, relaxing picnic in the park and get your mind off of this."

Shawn smiled slightly and stepped into the apartment. There was barely anything awry, but maybe Jo and her parents had fixed the apartment up. Shawn stood there, taking in everything. The safe door was slightly ajar and was definitely bare, swept clean. From here he could see that the lock was undamaged, which meant that either the thief knew the combination or he'd cracked the safe—not the hardest thing considering the model was an old one and probably wasn't that hard to crack.

"What are you doing?"

Jumping nearly a foot in the air, Shawn turned and spotted Carlos, who was staring at him with his head slightly tilted, straps from his helmet hanging below his chin.

"Um…" Shawn blinked. "Divining. Why are you still here? Everybody else ran off."

Carlos shrugged and smiled brightly. "My dad is a police officer, so I thought maybe I could help."

Shawn raised his eyebrows. Another kid of a cop, huh? He doubted that Carlos' cop father taught him everything about observation and deduction, but if it helped then there was no reason the pop star couldn't help him.

"Alright," he agreed. "Look around for anything suspicious."

Carlos immediately took this as a hint to _literally _snoop, bending over and pulling a magnifying glass from out of nowhere as he scrutinized every part of the apartment.

Shawn shook his head. Is that what he looked like to other people? He couldn't decide if he was amused or horrified.

Ignoring Carlos, Shawn slowly walked around the room. It was obnoxiously neat and tidy, indicating that either the parents were military based or Jo was a serious perfectionist. The air smelled of leftover spaghetti and meatballs, probably from the dinner they'd had the previous night.

"Hey, Carlos," Shawn called to the teen. "When did this break-in happen?"

"Last night," Carlos supplied from the kitchen, rifling through the cabinets. "And then Tyler's was this morning and we almost caught the guy who was trying to get Camille's apartment, but… well, you know."

Wow, that was a small time window. The brains in Shawn's head began to turn—was there more than one thief? How did they get in and out without being noticed? Where did they hide their loot? And how did they pull their robberies off in broad daylight?

"Hey," Carlos said excitedly. "I think I found something!"

Intrigued, Shawn came around the counter to look at the kitchen table, where Carlos carefully pointing out a couple of ashes against the dark wood. Shawn's eyebrows raised. "Nice eyes, but how do you know that these aren't from Jo's parents?"

Carlos leveled a glare at him and said hotly, "Jo's parents don't smoke. And these are too big to be cigarettes—they're from a cigar."

Shawn wasn't even sure he wanted to know how Carlos knew that. "Okay," he said. "Fair enough. So we know that whoever this was probably smokes cigars."

Carlos' expression lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh! It was Mr. Bitters! He smokes cigars!"

He started to make a beeline for the door when Shawn caught him by the helmet and said, "Hold your horses, kid. We can't just jump to the first conclusion that pops into our—who am I kidding, to Mr. Bitters!"

The Latino boy grinned and started to march out of the door before Shawn grabbed his shoulder and said, "Wait. Who's Mr. Bitters?"


	3. Chapter 3

"He is so not psychic."

James opened his eyes and peered up at Katie, who was outlined in some ghoulish yellowish light from the sun that probably would've been interpreted as angelic if he hadn't known previously that she was devil spawn.

"Go away, Katie," he groaned, closing his eyes again. "You're blocking my sun."

He could feel her eye-roll without even opening his eyes. Katie huffed and crossed her arms, tapping her foot annoyingly until James finally gave up and said, "That's not what Carlos thinks."

Katie scoffed. "This coming from the guy who stayed up in the lobby trying to prove that ghosts were real?"

James had to admit that she had a point. "Okay," he said slowly, sitting up in the chair. "So what do you want to do about it?"

"If this guy's a fraud," Katie said, eyes glittering, "then we can make him slip up. Just once, and then Carlos and Kendall will see that they're wasting their money with this guy."

"He didn't ask for money," James pointed out.

"Whatever!" Katie crossed her arms and looked at James expectantly.

James grinned. "What did you have in mind?"

…

"We know it was you!" Carlos yelled loudly as he flew into the lobby. Shawn had to sprint to keep up with him.

The heavy set man behind the counter looked up from his magazine. His expression practically screamed boredom. "If whatever it was I did included drop-kicking your head into a pool, then yes, yes I did."

Carlos scowled and leaned over the counter, eyes narrowed. "We found your cigar ashes on Jo's table," he said, jabbing a finger into Bitters' chest.

Bitters, using his forefinger and thumb as if Carlos was soaked in acid, slowly moved the hand out of his personal space. "I don't smoke indoors," he said, sounding irritated. "Let alone in my own guests' rooms."

Carlos opened his mouth to accuse him of something else when Shawn slapped a hand over it, leaning forward himself.

"Don't mind my energetic friend here," he said disarmingly to Bitters. "He got excited because we found a clue."

"Yeah," Carlos said, pulling Shawn's hand off. "We found cigar ashes. And you're the only one I know here who smokes cigars!"

"That could be anybody," Bitters sneered at him. "You can't just accuse me of robbing my own guests."

"So that would make you the manager here?" Shawn asked.

"Duh," Bitters snapped, pointing at his nametag. _Reginald Bitters, Palm Woods Manager. _Shawn had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. _Reginald? _No wonder he was so _bitter._

"So you wouldn't mind if we took a look at your security tapes," Shawn said brightly.

Bitters eyed him. "What are you, some kind of cop?"

"He's a psychic detective," Carlos said, leaning forward and pointing at Shawn like he was bragging about him. "And he's going to find the bad guy who robbed Jo, Tyler, and Camille!"

"Oh really?" Bitters looked unimpressed. "Well you can tell your psychic friend that due to a privacy policy I signed, I can't show him any of our security tapes. Now _go away."_

He lifted his magazine and refused to acknowledge them again.

Carlos pulled Shawn over to the opposite side of the lobby and said, "Sorry." He looked dejected. "He's so mean sometimes! I don't know how else to get the security tapes."

"I know how," Shawn declared. "But I'm going to need a distraction."

Carlos grinned. "Leave that to me."

…

"Crazy Kid, this is Dude with the Sexy Hair, do you copy?"

The walkie-talkie in Shawn's hand crackled before Carlos' voice came in. _"Copy and paste, DwtSH." _There was a brief pause before he continued with, _"Why don't I have sexy hair?"_

"You have to be born with it," Shawn said, like it should be obvious. "Alright, Crazy Kid, I am in position. Do your thing."

He watched from behind the vending machine as Carlos crept slowly up to the front desk. Bitters was still reading his magazine and was completely oblivious to the teen as he kept low to the floor, glancing furtively around for any sign of him being caught. If the guests noticed him as they walked past they made no comment. His cover was clear for now.

"Steady…" Shawn whispered to himself, poised as he watched Carlos rise… and then pelt Bitters with a water balloon.

Sputtering, Bitters dropped his soaked magazine, spotted Carlos, and reached for him. Carlos took off, laughing loudly, towards the pool as Bitters chased him.

Yes!

Shawn cheered quietly as he came out from his hiding place. Darting to the computer he quickly found the security tapes (marked under the folder, "SECURITY TAPES DON'T LOOK IT'S PRIVATE"). "Jo's room, Jo's room…" he muttered under his breath. "Aha!"

Alright, if the robbery happened last night… Shawn started with eight o'clock and scanned. He spotted Jo and a man who looked like he could've been her father walking out of their room at eight thirteen. There was no activity for an hour until—aha! Shawn paused and rewound, stopping at the blurry image of… well, it was person. It looked too small to be a man, thin and slender. The figure was dressed head to toe with black, and kept their back to the camera the entire time. Shawn fast forwarded the tape, but the figure never appeared again.

"Hey!"

Shawn looked up at Bitters as the hotel manager came storming back, soaked to the bone. "What do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

Carlos came flying into the room again, snatching Shawn's arm and dragging him towards the elevator and leaving Mr. Bitters to throw a temper tantrum at the front desk.

…

"This was nice," Jo said, leaning her head into Kendall's chest.

"Yeah." Kendall smiled down at her as they laid back in the grass, letting the sun warm their faces. "A nice picnic dinner to get your mind off of things."

Jo sighed. "I can't believe it's gone," she said, sounding crestfallen.

"Hey," Kendall said, running a hand through her hair, "don't worry about it. I'm sure Shawn will find it, track it down and bring it back to you no problem."

"You really think this guy is psychic?" she asked, laughing.

Kendall shrugged. "He's not a fraud, at least. He offered to help out with this, no charge. At the very least, he's a detective and I'm sure he'll figure this out."

"Thanks, Kendall," Jo said, pressing a kiss on his lips. She stood up. "I better get home."

"I'll walk you."

They packed up the picnic and Kendall rode with Jo up the elevator to her apartment. Jo opened the door and gave him a final hug before smiling and saying, "Goodnight."

"Night," Kendall replied as she closed the door.

Walking back to the elevator, Kendall dug his toe into the carpet glumly. All of these break-ins, especially in such a short amount of time, were stressing him out just as much as it was his girlfriend. And his apartment hasn't even been broken into.

Yet.

Sighing, Kendall headed for his apartment. His mom was out buying better locks, he knew. Kind of silly when he thought about it, since despite how out-of-date the safes were, the Palm Woods had pretty tight security. Still, as she said, it _didn't hurt to be careful._

Whatever. All Kendall wanted was some time alone to think about this Shawn guy. He didn't know what he thought of him—he was as immature as Carlos but oddly witty and Kendall could tell by the way he looked at him and Jo that he was hiding some sort of weird, hidden intelligence. It was creeping him out. Kendall assumed he would mind his own business, but what did he know? He was a hockey-playing pop star, not a psychologist.

He reached his floor and walked with his hands in his pockets to his door, reaching for the keys until he realized that the door was open the tiniest bit. Kendall frowned. That was weird.

"Katie?" he called as he pushed the door open.

The figure standing in the middle of the room was way too big to be his ten-year-old sister, Kendall realized. And they were dressed head to toe in black.


	4. Chapter 4

James peeked out into the hallway and turned back to Katie. "Coast is clear," he reported.

"Good," Katie said, nodding approvingly. "We're going to have to hurry up and set this trap before Kendall decides to bring the fraud back to the apartment."

"How do you know he's going to do that?" James frowned.

"Because he's Kendall," Katie said, like it should be obvious. She hoisted the bucket of soured milk and moldy cheese to James, who violently cringed away as she inserted the key into the lock.

Before she could turn the key, however, voices floated to them from the elevator as the doors slid open.

"It's Carlos and that fraud!" James hissed. He tilted his head. "Sounds like they teamed up with Logan and the other guy."

"What other guy?" Katie frowned. James started to answer but she shook her head. "Never mind—come on! We gotta hide this!"

She shoved the door open and they stumbled into the apartment before stopping short and staring.

Katie was the first to react. "Kendall!" She scrambled forward, half falling onto her knees so she could lift her unconscious brother's head into her lap.

"He's bleeding," James said, barely twitching from his position, gripping the doorframe. He'd noticed the stream of blood—a _lot _of blood—that lie in a puddle on the floor, staining Kendall's blonde hair in the process.

"Whoa—Kendall?"

James turned to see Logan stopping short with wide eyes, the psychic and his friend as well as Carlos a step behind him. The future doctor pushed his way past James and knelt by Kendall, pushing two fingers into his neck to feel his pulse.

"He's alive," he reported, tapping Kendall's cheek. "Wake up, dude."

After a second, Kendall's green eyes fluttered open—and crossed as he tried to focus. "Whoa…" he muttered, starting to sit up.

Logan gently pushed him back down. "Probably better if you don't move while I assess your injuries."

Kendall shook his head as if to rid himself of the cobwebs. "No, I'm fine. What—" With a startled gasp he flew to his feet, swaying slightly. "Oh! The thief was in here!"

"Kendall," Shawn said, stepping forward to put a hand on his shoulder, "maybe you should sit down. That was a lot of blood on the floor."

"No," Logan corrected, "head wounds bleed a lot. He should be fine, as long as he doesn't have a concussion." He proceeded to make Kendall wait to explain and do a rigorous concussion test.

"He's fine," Logan said finally. "Of course, I'm no expert, so you should really get checked out—"

"Later," Kendall promised, sounding impatient. He turned to Shawn. "Listen—he was in here. The door was already open somehow. He was just standing in the middle of the room, and then he flew at me like a _ninja. _He was so fast! Anyways, he and I fought a bit before he conked me out." Kendall rubbed the back of his head.

"Did you see who it was?" Shawn pressed.

"Uh… no." Kendall looked sheepish. "He was dressed in black, I know that. And he was pretty big. Like, _Freight Train _big." After thinking about it for a second he amended, "Okay, not that big. But somewhere around there."

"Weird," Shawn murmured, flashing back to the size of the person outside of Jo's room on the security tape. "Hey, does anyone go around dressing head to toe in black?"

James cringed, while Logan shook his head, saying, "You never know. This place is full of actors."

"And they dress in all sorts of colors," Carlos pointed out. "One time I saw a naked guy—"

"HE DOESN'T NEED TO KNOW THAT STORY," the four kids yelled, Katie even reaching up to clap a hand over Carlos' mouth.

Shawn and Gus looked at each other. Gus said, "Kendall, do you have anything valuable in your safe?"

Kendall rolled his eyes. "We're hockey players, not lottery winners. Mom doesn't even use the safe."

"Actually, she stores her fruitcakes in them," Katie corrected. "She says it's colder in the safe than it is in the fridge."

"You okay, dude?" James asked, checking over Kendall again.

Kendall swatted him away. "I'm fine. I just need to go get an ice pack."

"We don't have any more, remember?" Logan pointed out. "Carlos popped them all."

"Not my fault!" Carlos complained. "James was the one who gathered them all up and put them on my bed."

James huffed indignantly. "I had to ice my pores!"

Carlos brightened up. "I know—I bet Mr. Bitters has some downstairs!"

"Wait, Carlos—" Kendall started to say, but Carlos had already disappeared down the hallway.

Shawn shook his head. "I think that kid moves faster than Gus on Donut Thursday at the station."

"You know that's right," Gus confirmed, giving him a fist-bump.

...

Carlos bounced excitedly the elevator, waiting impatiently for the doors to slide open. Why did these things go so slow? He should just take the stairs—they'd be so much faster. He wanted to help Kendall as fast as possible! Why wouldn't the elevator go faster?

"Finally!" he shouted as the car came to a stop. He completely disregarded that someone might've been waiting on the other side of the doors, so as soon as they slid open Carlos immediately smashed into another person in his haste to get to the front desk.

Thankfully, his helmet was strapped to his head, so Carlos rolled to his feet instantly, holding out a hand and apologizing as soon as he could form coherent thought again. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't see you!"

"It's okay," the girl said as she accept his hand and pulled herself up. She brushed off her summer dress and looked up at him. "I wasn't paying attention."

Carlos couldn't answer. He was too busy staring at the girl. She had really shiny black hair. It was so shiny he wanted to reach out and touch it—and he almost did, but he caught himself in time. Traveling back to her face, Carlos' eyes widened as he took in her bright blue eyes and freckles.

"Um," she said, blushing nicely, "I'm Marissa."

Carlos' mouth wouldn't work for a second. "Uh… I, uh… Carlos!" he blurted. "My name is Carlos."

Marissa nodded. "Nice to meet you Carlos. I'm new here."

She waited, and it took Carlos a second. "Would you like me to show you around?" he asked finally, completely forgetting about his mission.

The girl's smile lit his world, and Carlos couldn't help but smile back. "That'd be great, thanks!"

"Follow me," Carlos said, bowing dramatically and offering his elbow for her to take. She let out an embarrassed giggle, but took his elbow. Without another thought of his special mission for Kendall, Carlos all but skipped out of the lobby.


	5. Chapter 5

"So, what have we got?" Shawn said as he and Gus gathered with Kendall and Logan in their apartment.

Gus remained standing next to Logan. Shawn couldn't help but notice he'd gotten very buddy-buddy like with the pop star. "Logan and I interviewed Camille and her family. Nothing significant happened other than Camille had made a friend earlier in the day before she was robbed."

"Same thing with Jo," Kendall announced before Shawn could talk. "She told me about a girl she'd met who had just came to the Palm Woods. BTR was at the studio so we missed out on meeting her, but that can't be a coincidence, right?" He turned to Logan. "What did Camille say her friend was?"

Logan shook his head. "She didn't. At the time, it wasn't important."

"Jo said her name was Marissa," Kendall provided. "She's her age, so—"

"Hold on a second," Gus protested. "The person who attacked Kendall couldn't have been a teenager, right? Let alone a girl. Kendall, aren't you a hockey player?"

Kendall looked sheepish, as if he'd just now realized how embarrassing it would be in a girl had knocked him out. "Uh, yeah. I guess it really doesn't make sense for her to be the burglar then."

"Yeah, and just because someone arrives the day the robberies start doesn't mean they're the ones who did it," Shawn added.

Gus gaped at him. "Shawn, was that you being reasonable?"

"Nope." Shawn gave him a glare. "Never happened."

Logan and Kendall exchanged glances, Kendall rolling his eyes. "How about we go interview her next?" he suggested, standing up. "I mean, she might know something, right?"

"Excellent idea, Kenny!" Shawn said, leaping to his feet.

Kendall frowned. "Please don't call me that."

Shawn shrugged. "Suit yourself, Kenny. Let's go!"

"Go where?" Gus pointed out. "The front desk? Didn't you learn last time that the manager hates your guts?"

Shawn scowled at him. "What are you, my stalker?"

"No," Gus sniffed. "I just happened to be in the area when that crazy manager was chasing Carlos around the pool screaming, "I'll get you! And your little psychic, too!" It was kind of conspicuous, Shawn."

"We can talk to him, if you'd like," Logan suggested.

"Bad idea, Logan," Kendall muttered.

"I think it's safe to say that that guy hates everybody," Shawn said, swinging an arm around Gus' shoulders. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

…

"He's coming!" James hissed as he watched the elevator doors ding open. He turned back to Katie and said, "And you're _sure _this'll work?"

Katie scoffed at him. "Please. He'll never see it coming. Plus, at the speed he's always running around at, he'll never see the trip wire."

She and James peeked out from the poolside hedges, James fastening his tree hat so it fit without messing up his hair. They watched intently as the psychic made his way across the lobby. Twenty feet closer to the trip wire. James followed the thin, clear plastic wire from its tripping point up to the bucket of raw eggs hung from the top of the ceiling. It was impossible to see unless you were looking for it, and there was no way Shawn would be looking for it unless he really were psychic.

Fifteen feet. Ten feet. James and Katie had their eyes locked on the psychic's path that they didn't even notice when Carlos and some girl he was escorting were right on top of the wire.

The girl tripped over the wire, but Carlos grabbed her just in time and spun her away as the eggs fell, splattering in a pile right on the lobby floor.

"Dude!" Carlos bellowed as he spotted James and his tree hat. "What was that for? You almost hit Marissa!"

"Marissa?" Shawn looked excited at the name. "So you're the new girl, right? Can you tell me about the robberies that have been going on?"

She opened her mouth but was interrupted as James and Katie came over.

"Carlos!" James whined. "You messed up the trap for the psychic!"

Shawn raised an eyebrow. "You did that for me?"

Katie stood on her tiptoes and pushed a finger into his chest. "I know you're not psychic, Mr. Fraud, and I'm going to prove it!"

"Good luck, short stuff," Shawn said, chuckling. He turned to Marissa. "I apologize. That was… I don't know what that was. But do you mind if I ask you a few questions about the robberies? I'm a psychic detective trying to catch the culprit."

He trailed off as he posed heroically, leaving the poor girl to stare at him, looking confused.

_"What have you done to my floors?"_

They whirled as they spotted Mr. Bitters. His face had gone bright purple and he couldn't seem to tear his gaze from the mess of raw eggs in a puddle on the lobby floor.

"Run now, questions later," Shawn advised, and they all took off.

…

"Kendall, you're bleeding," Logan called as Kendall went to leave the apartment.

Kendall looked down at his hand in surprise. "No… this isn't my blood."

Kendall and Gus got up to study his hand. He didn't have any wounds on his fingers, but the tips were caked lightly in blood.

"You must've scratched the burglar!" Gus said excitedly. "You should tell Shawn."

"Yeah." Kendall frowned as he tried to remember how he'd fought back. He turned around fully. "We can still catch him if we hurry. You coming?"

Logan looked apologetic. "I was going to show Gus some algorithms in order to reconstruct certain drugs, so…"

Kendall rolled his eyes. "Okay… later, geeks."

"We're not geeks!" he heard them call as he closed the door. Kendall chuckled and made his way down the hall to the elevator.

As he got out he noticed Buddha Bob cleaning up a mess of what looked like eggs on the floor. "What happened?" he asked curiously as he stopped by his side.

Buddha Bob shrugged. "I dunno. Somethin' 'bout a psychic trap… or somethin'."

A man a few words. Kendall nodded. "Have you seen that psychic? His name is Shawn and he's trying to help us figure out these robberies."

Buddha Bob shrugged. "When I got there, Bitters was hoppin' mad and everybody had scattered."

"Thanks," Kendall muttered, scratching his head. Where could they have gone? He wandered around the lobby before heading out to the pool and then the park.

"Carlos!" he exclaimed as he spotted him and another girl sitting on a picnic blanket and eating food.

"Hey, Kendall!" Carlos said happily, waving him over. "This is Marissa."

Marissa waved shyly at Kendall. "Hi. I'm new here."

"So you're the one Shawn wants to talk to," Kendall said, nodding. "By the way, have you seen him?"

"Not since James and Katie tried to prove he wasn't really psychic," Carlos said, shrugging. "We all ran when Mr. Bitters got mad and yelled at us. But we're good now. We were just having a picnic!"

Kendall smiled and shook his head ruefully. "Alright, well—"

"Marissa!" someone called. A man walked up to them with eyes on Marissa, and the girl stood. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Hi, Dad," Marissa said. She gestured to Carlos and Kendall. "These are my new friends, Carlos and Kendall. They're in the band Big Time Rush."

The man smiled somewhat awkwardly at them. "Uh, yes, it's nice to meet you boys. Marissa, it's getting late, you should really come back to the apartment for dinner."

Carlos noticed him absentmindedly rubbing at his hand. "Ooh, that looks like a bad scratch," he said as stood up.

"Oh, no, it's fine," the man insisted.

Kendall frowned. Bad scratch? He looked at the man's hand—there were three distinct scratch marks, bright red, across them. He flashed back to his own fingers—three of them marked with blood that wasn't his own.

He looked up at the man's face, and he gazed back at him. Recognized him. Kendall felt his jaw slacken.

This was the intruder who'd been in his apartment earlier.

The man didn't seem to realize he'd been found out, but he wouldn't tear his eyes from Kendall's. "On second thought," he said slowly, "would you boys like to have dinner with us at our apartment?"

Kendall shook his head immediately. "Oh, that won't be necessary—"

"Sure," Carlos said, shrugging. "C'mon, Kendall, don't turn down a dinner invitation!"

Kendall glared at Carlos, frustrated that he wasn't getting the message.

The man's eyes twinkled, and not in a good way. "Then it's settled. To our apartment, then!" He held out an arm and Marissa slipped into his embrace, turning to give Carlos and Kendall an encouraging smile.

Carlos, naturally, smiled back and immediately fell into step next to them, chattering non-stop.

Kendall sighed anxiously, wishing he could do something, _anything¸_ to warn Carlos of the danger they were about to walk into. With nothing else he could do, he followed.


	6. Chapter 6

Carlos happily walked with his new friend, Kendall trailing a couple of steps behind. "So, where are you from?" he asked.

Marissa smiled at him warmly. "Florida. We move around a lot, though."

"And you're interested in…?"

"Dance." After second thought Marissa added, "Ballet."

Carlos looked impressed. "Wow. I know I'm definitely not flexible enough to do that."

He heard Kendall stutter a step behind him. Sending an annoyed look over his shoulder, he could see a weird look in Kendall's eyes that he'd never seen before. He couldn't understand why Kendall was acting like this. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that Kendall was almost… _scared. _But that wasn't Kendall. So why was he acting like this?

"Here we are," Marissa's father said as they reached a door on the second floor. Opening the door he swept an arm out, gesturing them to go inside.

Marissa pulled Carlos in easily, but it took some prodding from her father to get Kendall to step into the room.

"So, Dad, what's for dinner?" Marissa asked conversationally.

Her father hesitated as he went to lock the door. "I don't think we'll be having dinner tonight," he said grimly.

"What?" Carlos was more upset than confused, considering he hadn't eaten anything since that morning. "I've got some frozen corndogs back at our apartment if you want me to—"

"No," the man said forcefully.

Carlos frowned. He looked at Kendall and noticed that the blonde had moved to stand in front of him protectively, glaring at Marissa's father.

"You're the thief," he said accusingly.

"What?" Carlos said again, but as soon as the word left his mouth, he noticed the ashtray on the table—and the rolls of cigars lying next to it. His mouth popped open. "No way."

Marissa slipped her arm out from Carlos' elbow and moved to stand near her dad. Carlos felt the disbelief rip into hurt as she caught his gaze and then averted her eyes.

"Really, Marissa?" he said, trying not to let his voice break on her name.

She shook her head. "Look, Carlos, I'm sorry—"

"Shut up," her father growled. He was staring at Kendall with a strained look on his face. "Why you have to be so observant, kid? If you'd just left it alone…"

Kendall was quiet for a second. "Where's Jo's necklace?" he demanded finally.

Her father glared at him. "None of your business!"

Carlos clenched his fists. "It is _too_ our business! You stole our friends' stuff, and you need to give it back!"

He started to stomp angrily towards the man only to freeze when he pulled out a long blade from a drawer by the table. Holding it out to him, he said threateningly, "I'd think first before you make me do something I'll regret."

Marissa started, looking alarmed. "Dad, don't—"

"Shut up, Marissa!" her father roared. "What did I tell you? No making friends! Why can't you just follow directions for _once, _you _stupid_ girl?" He raised a hand high over his head as if to strike her.

Blood roared in Carlos' ears. Traitor or not, Marissa was still a person. Letting out an enraged battle cry, Carlos launched himself at the man.

"Carlos, no!" Kendall yelled.

But Carlos paid no attention to him. His eyes were locked on the knife that the man held high above his head. Carlos was short, but he grabbed onto his bicep and the two of them struggled for the blade. An instant later Kendall joined him, slamming into him like he would on the ice. The man teetered and back into the table.

It was there he found his leverage. Shoving off the table with a grunt, he slammed a fist into Kendall's jaw, sending him sprawling to his knees. In the next second he'd grabbed Carlos by the upper arm, yanking him so that he was in front of him. Carlos struggled until he felt the cool metal of the knife resting against the nape of his neck.

"Stay down!" Marissa's father yelled at Kendall as the blonde started to scramble to his feet.

"Let him go," Kendall said calmly. Carlos was amazed at how he stared the man down unflinchingly, even from his position on the floor.

The man tightened his grip on Carlos and the Latino boy winced, feeling his fingers dig into his arm. He was obviously not letting him go any time soon.

Carlos caught Kendall's gaze and the blonde gave him a reassuring nod. Carlos would've returned it, but he didn't feel like moving his chin.

"What now?" Kendall asked coolly.

Marissa spoke up from her position behind Kendall. "Dad, it's over. Listen, downstairs in the lobby, I ran into a psychic detective who's working these robberies. This isn't a spot you're going to win. Why can't we just stop running for once?"

"She's right, you know," a muffled voice came from behind the door. It suddenly swung open, revealing a smirking Katie holding a bobby pin, a smirking Shawn standing behind her, Logan, Gus, and James staring horrified at the sight of the tense stand-off, and a crowd of police officers behind them.

Carlos couldn't help but laugh. "How did you guys find us?"

Kendall looked horrified. "Katie! Where did you learn how to pick a lock?"

Shawn strode into the room, giving Kendall a hand up. "I am _psychic," _he said, overemphasizing the word, to Carlos. "I divined that you were here and in trouble!"

Logan frowned. "Uh, no, I was the one who told you Kendall was looking for you because he had scratched the bad guy."

Shawn huffed. "That is irrelevant. Come on, I figured it out, don't you want to know how?"

They didn't answer, so Shawn took that as consent to continue. "Guys, let me introduce you to Richard and Marissa Brythe. They're a father-daughter con team from the east coast, although I'm sensing that Richard forced Marissa into stealing from the hotels they stayed at, am I right, Marissa?"

The girl glared sullenly at the floor, but made no move to object.

Shawn didn't seem bothered by her lack of response. Instead, he gasped aloud and flailed wildly, nearly smacking Logan in the face as the teen stepped up to see if he needed help.

"Gus!" he panted. "I need your magic head!"

His best friend looked less than pleased to be dragged into Shawn's reveal, but he took a step forward to grab onto Shawn's arm. Shawn latched onto him and jerked his body around. "I can see it now!" he wailed. "You're on the run from the police back in New York and Pennsylvania, so you came here to California! By chance you happened to meet Tyler, the famous commercial kid who was polite enough to drop where he and his mother lived after you so kindly helped him escape an audition!"

Carlos' jaw dropped. How did he know these things?

But Shawn wasn't done yet. "And as soon as you got here, you met Jo and then Camille, found out where they lived. And you, Richard, forced your daughter to scope out the place ahead of time, and then keep the others busy while you robbed them. But you didn't count on four resourceful, brilliant young men to be lying in wait to catch you. So when you ran, they gave chase, and then I may or may not have hit Carlos with a car—"

"You did," the four boys chorused.

Shawn waved them away. "Not the point. The _point _is, they met me and I lent my psychic usefulness to this case. Give it up, Richard, it's over."

Carlos had almost forgotten the knife was still at his throat until Richard pulled it further up his neck. "Marissa," he growled in his ear, "tell them that if they don't back away, I'll kill their friend."

Carlos made a strangled noise in the back of his throat. He didn't want to be killed. That would really suck.

Marissa stared at Carlos, at a loss of what to do. Finally her blue eyes became steely and she glared up at her father. "You know what? No! I'm done running and stealing things from people. Just let Carlos go, Dad. It's over."

"Marissa!" Richard yelled, enraged. She pursed her lips and glared at him as she turned on her heel, walking up to an officer and offering her wrists.

"I surrender," she said grandly, as if providing an example for what her father should do.

"Marissa Anne Brythe, pay attention to me when I'm talking to you!"

"Wait," Marissa said as the cops went to handcuff her. She walked up to her father, ignoring Carlos, and said, "This is for not letting me have friends."

And she grabbed the hand holding the knife with one hand and tore it out of his slackened grasp.

"Deck him!" Kendal shouted as Carlos pulled away.

And that's how Richard Brythe was arrested: with four hockey-playing pop stars sitting on his chest.


	7. Chapter 7

"I can't believe you found it," Jo said happily, touching the diamond necklace as Kendall latched the clasp at the back of her neck.

Kendall shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "Technically Shawn did. He did… some kind of psychic thing and just picked out where he'd stashed the stuff he'd stolen. Everybody's happy they got all of their stuff back."

"Well, I think you're my knight in shining armor, not some psychic," Jo teased as she kissed him on the cheek. "So, to the park?"

"In a second," he promised. "Shawn and Gus are leaving, and we have to say goodbye."

"I'll be waiting," Jo said, nodding. "Go on."

Kendall sent her a smile and jogged to keep up with his buddies.

"Did you _see _that?" Carlos jumped up and down happily as Shawn and Gus walked out of the Palm Woods. "That was _so cool! _We totally just caught the bad guys! It was like CSI!"

"Not really," James started to say, but Carlos was in such a good mood he didn't even hear him.

"And did you _see _the looks on everybody's faces when Shawn went all, "_I know what you did last night!" _on them?" Carlos cackled. "That was so awesome!"

"I'm glad you think so," Shawn told him good-naturedly before turning and looking at Logan and James with raised eyebrows.

Logan crossed his arms. "I'm still not convinced," he muttered, looking away.

"I am!" James clapped a hand on Shawn's shoulder. "Do you do dating advice? Because there's this chick—"

"We _really _should be going," Gus interrupted, giving Shawn an annoyed glare. "We're on vacation, remember, Shawn?"

Shawn's face fell. "But we just hung out with a bunch of celebrities and solved a case! How much more fun can you get?"

"Tanning," Gus deadpanned, turning to get into the driver's seat of the Blueberry.

Carlos looked confused. "He can tan?"

"I guess we're about to find out." Shawn gave them all goofy smiles. "It was great working with you guys. If you ever need my help again, let me know."

"No problem," Kendall said, saluting him as Shawn turned to go.

They watched as the Blueberry started to drive away.

"I liked those guys," Kendall admitted finally as it disappeared.

"Me too," Carlos said dreamily. "Guys, I wanna be psychic when I grow up."

The boys rolled their eyes as one. "Oh, grow up, Carlos."

As they turned to leave, Carlos suddenly stopped short with a funny look on his face. "Guys?" he called. "I just realized my helmet's gone. It was on my head a minute ago. I think I took it off to scratch my head but now it's gone!"

"I'm sure you just dropped it," Logan said over his shoulder as they disappeared into the lobby.

"I didn't," Carlos said firmly, stomping his foot like a child. "Guys! I didn't drop it!"

…

"I liked those guys," Gus said finally as the boys disappeared.

"Don't worry," Shawn said nonchalantly. "We'll see them again."

Gus shot him an alarmed glace. "Shawn? What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Shawn said innocently. He reached into the backseat and put a black hockey helmet on his head, slapping it twice. "How long do you think before he realizes it's missing?"

"Shawn!" Gus hissed. "You stole Carlos' helmet? Why would you do that?"

"Because I know he keeps a tracking device in it!" Shawn said, defending himself.

Gus stopped the car and turned it around.

"Where are we going?"

"To give Carlos his helmet back," Gus snapped. "Honestly, why do I even put up with you? I have got to get new friends."

"Dude," Shawn said incredulously as he stared out the window. "Was that… _Lassiter?"_

_ "What?" _Gus stopped at a red light and followed Shawn's line of eyesight to the tall Irish detective. "No way."

"How much do you want to bet he's on the way to the Palm Woods right now?" Shawn said nervously.

Gus started to put the car in reverse. "You said Carlos has a tracking device?"

"Right under the straps," Shawn confirmed.

"He can come back for it." And with that, the two friends sped as fast as they could in the other direction.

**A/N: Waaaaaah, it's over! That was short and sweet and kind of silly. xD Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Till next time!**


End file.
